The issues go far beyond hitting troubles. Since Baker returned on 4/15 we've scored 5, 8, 12, 7, 6, 7, 17, 16, 0, 3, 4, 7. That's good enough hitting for 9 wins instead of 7. The only three games we didn't manage 5+ runs came at the hands of stout OSU pitching (#1 in conf, 18th in nation). Their team 3.08 ERA is not misleading. I agree pre-4/15 and last weekend's hitting sucked royally. But also, the number of games the defense single-handedly lost exceeds the fingers on one hand. The other hand is used to count games lost by late relief pitching collapses. Basically this team is deficient in starting pitching, relief pitching, defense, and hitting. Augie managed to produce a ball club well-rounded in suckage. Regardless of what happens in the conf tourney, it's time to move on. The last two regular seasons were a joke and far inferior to our standards.
We agree that it's time to move on. But, a 5 to 7 game stretch of hitting against marginal pitching does not outweigh 3 to 5 years of inferior offense.
Augie isn't leaving. He needs about 30 wins to reach 2000, and Texas is not going to pull the string on him until he gets it. Unfortunately at the rate we are going it may take into the 2018 season for him to get to 2000.
Read about WWII Operation Market Garden. That was a bridge to far. 30 wins for Augie are to many for Texas to absorb.
We booted Gus in 1996 after he fell below 40 wins for the first time in 18 seasons. 39-24 (15 games over .500) was considered unacceptable and failing Texas baseball standards since he hadn't made the CWS in three seasons. Now we're gonna give Augie another pass after he failed to win over 30 games for the 4th time in 5 seasons? In 4 of the last 5 Augie seasons, he finished 9+ wins lower than Gus' final record (his worst in 18 seasons). Wow. Let me spell this out a lil clearer comparing their last 5 seasons... Gus (1992-96): 225-97 Augie (2012-16): 163-121 Gus: 2 conference champs, 1 tourney champ, 2 CWS appearances Augie: 1 tourney champ, 1 CWS appearance I even exaggerated our 2016 finish at 29-27 with 8 wins and 3 losses. In their last 3 seasons Gus will have at least 20 more wins and 11 fewer losses. Bottom line is we couldn't show Gus the door fast enough even though his last 3 seasons all had 43, 44, and 39 wins. A conf tourney champ and another outright conf champ wasn't enough without the CWS appearance in 3 years. Augie had one aberration CWS season in 2014 over the last 5 years, and has produced a terrible 51-51 record ever since. Now we're gonna stay course, further damage the program, all so he can attempt to reach 2000 wins next year? Typical roll over decision that's becoming so common in Texas athletics. It's no wonder only one of our 3 main sports teams has a winning record. Even in the winning program we didn't boot Barnes for Shaka. Barnes refused to stay under demands to scapegoat and fire his assistants. He bailed and forced our hand.
Coach Gus being let go had nothing to do with his won/loss record. There were other things going on that were much more serious. This has been discussed about before.
That may be, but the 51-52 record the last two years means there's something seriously wrong with the program now too. A losing record since 2014 is inexcusable.
There's a difference in the serious that is wrong now and what happened back then, that was off the playing field, which was about to lead to actions taken against the program itself. What is going on now and for several years is related to performance and recruiting. I am not making excuses for what is going on now, have you not paid any attention to what I have been saying for years. I am the one that started talking about this five years ago. What happened in 2014 was just because the pitching carried the team through the playoffs, starting with the regional in Houston. Then the Big 12 Tourney last year. I was questioned for talking about this five years ago, there's been something wrong for way longer than since 2014. Texas hasn't hosted a regional since 2012, the attendance is suffering. Those Tuesday night games look like a ghost town fan wise and the weekend series haven't been very good either. The latest thing is now the defense is terrible, which had always been one of the best. Texas has 61 errors, only Kansas with 62 is worse in the Big 12. There has never been so many unearned runs, as have been let in this season, for who knows how long. The pitching may have been not up to it's usual standards, but it's still the third best in the conference. That's considerably better than the seventh place standing of the hitting. When was the last time the hitting was in the top third of the conference? I keep hearing about Baker being injured, well Sawyer has been injured way longer, it's hurts the pitching every bit as much as Baker having been out. Injuries happen though, some never recover, that's just the breaks. Yes, changes are needed, hiring Nicholson certainly didn't help things either.
What the f is so special about 2000 wins? He's already the winningest D1 baseball coach, not likely to be passed while he's still alive, won series titles in 4 decades, yada, yada. Doesn't give anyone the right to stink up one of the 2(USC) top all time college baseball programs just to reach some nonsensical 2000 wins. DKR was forced out after slumping a bit after taking UT football to hights never before aaccomplished at Texas, Barnes solidly established UT basketball as a "playa" top 15 perrenial program, Mack Brown got that longed for football national title --- all 3 were told: "thanks, but it's time to move on"
I think Augie should retire as well, but I am not sure how listing 3 bad decisions helps support the Augie should retire position. See Akers not winning the 1977 title, Charlie going 11-14 and Smart is TBD (matched but did not exceed Barnes's results in year 1). Disclaimer: I am joking above. Akers was fine and I think Smart will be fine. If Charlie does not turn it around, firing Mack without a good replacement was incredibly dumb. Every situation is unique and none are like Augie's. Augie is in his 70s and obviously does not have his magic anymore. Anyway, I think the real question is whether we should promote skip johnson or go out and try to find the best coach in the country.
Mike Martin at FSU will pass Augie's final wins total within 3 years after he retires. 2,000 won't carry near as much weight when it's second most wins by 2020. Martin is 5 years younger and has won 40+ games every season since joining FSU in 1992. He'll break 40 easily this year. So why are we sacrificing another season when it won't even be a lasting record for 5 years?
The decision on who to hire is up to the powers that be, I and others can make suggestions. hopefully based on things that are best for the program. The real question does Bellmont even care about the baseball program right now. Does the other things going on like football, the new basketball arena, or the hiring of a new AD, make it a moot point this year? Is baseball just put on the back burner, because they just want to put off a decision, till after all these other "more important things" are taken care off? No big bucks in college baseball, not that many people care, so not that many will complain, not enough to matter. Just like on this board, if this was football, people would be going crazy here. They can use the 2000 wins as an excuse for doing just that.
Bellmont should care about baseball, it's the only program that could come close to winning a national title in the next few years. It's extremely hard to make the Final Four. Even harder to get into the college football playoff. Strong and Shaka may make great strides, but I don't see either program threatening that close to a national title in the next few seasons. Texas baseball is not very far away from a CWS caliber season with the addition of a rock solid, hungry coach. There are a ton of returning starters next year. They just need someone to add a few new studs, and unleash the potential we have by demanding it. Augie does not hold them accountable for failure in his fading years. He considers successful batting simply by solid pitch selection, even though it ends in sitting down. He's made a plethora of excuses loss after loss for his team's failures the last two seasons while the season slipped away. Only to get upset after the team is buried. The coach from Dallas Baptist would have us in a regional (if not hosting one)...next year. Wouldn't even be that far of a stretch to win the regional either. Texas baseball is very important as it's the easiest sport to consistently make playoff runs at titles. It's the most successful and accomplished big-3 sports team Texas has. Belmont just needs to get their head out of their never-ending abyss of an arse. lol
I know they are not part of the big-3, but keep your Eyes-Of-Texas on the UT Men's golf team this season and Men's swimming (NCAA champions this season) again next year . BOTH are very capable of bringing home NC hardware the next few years.
